What is hot on 27 January 2011

Check out this blog post at DIY Scholar:
History of Modern Africa Since 1880
[...] University of California San Diego (UCSD) historian Jeremy Prestholdt narrates Africa’s modern history in a calm and thoughtful manner which makes his indictment of European colonialism and the racial paternalism of the colonial all the more damning. [...]
(feed of the discussed course)

The Memory Palace
Episode 37
Natural curiosity
(review, feed)

In Our Time
Aristotle's Poetics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the seminal work of literary criticism by Aristotle, his 'Poetics'. Full of advice about how to write and appreciate tragedy and epic poetry, the book had a huge influence on French renaissance drama and beyond. Melvyn is joined by Angie Hobbs, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Warwick; Nick Lowe is Reader in Classical Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London; and Stephen Halliwell, Professor of Greek at the University of St. Andrews.
(review, feed)

Great Claus and Little Claus

Here is a piece of nostalgia - for me at least. When I was young and until today I loved Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales and especially Great Claus and Little Claus. At the podcast Forgotten Classics this tale was integrally read by Joseph in the new subseries Forgotten Tales. Go and listen yourself, especially in case you have never heard this cheeky tale. (feed)

Although Anderson's work is considered to be literary, I have always wondered how much of his tales are based upon regular folk stories. I own a collection of Dutch folk tales that continue a number of tales that contain some or all elements of Great Claus and Little Claus. In some respect the folk version is more cheeky - Little Claus catches the farmer's wife cheating on her husband and in some aspects Anderson is very daring when Great Claus is about to murder Little CLaus. He is weary of dragging him in a sack and decides to rest a bit in the Church. After he has heard some Psalms his spirit is uplifted and he has regained strength to continue with his plan.

More Forgotten Classics:
Flood tales; Noah, Gilgamesh and Manu,
5 podcasts I listened to (Genesis),
The Riddle of the Sands,
The message of Uncle Tom's Cabin,
Cooking with Forgotten Classics.

What is hot on 26 January 2011

Rear Vision
Sudan
Rear Vision this week tells the story behind the recent referendum in Sudan and explores why the people of southern Sudan are so determine to separate from the north.
(review, feed)

Radio Open Source
David Rohde’s Taliban Captivity
What can Taliban captivity do to a man’s judgment, even to his soul? It made David Rohde root for the CIA’s drone missiles buzzing on the horizon, even when his captors assured him the drones were hunting for them and him, and were going to take his life with theirs
(review, feed)

The Christian Humanist Podcast
The Italian Renaissance
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Italian Renaissance and the broad spectrum of intellectual and artistic activity that emerges from that period. On the way we focus on the strong continuities between the concrete continuities between this fascinating time and what people in that moment called "the Dark Ages," and that discussion takes us into the realms of sculpture and politics and philosophy as well as poetry. Among the authors, artists, and others discussed are Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Castiglione, Pico de Mirandola, and the Medicis.
(review, feed)

Witness
Conflict in Somalia
It is 20 years since the government of Siad Barre collapsed in Somalia. Since then the country has not had a permanent central authority, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the fighting and famine.
(review, feed)

TED Talks
Drawing upon humor for change - Liza Donnelly
New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly shares a portfolio of her wise and funny cartoons about modern life -- and talks about how humor can empower women to change the rules.
(review, feed)

Meaning of Life - LSE

At the London School of Economics (LSE Podcast) you can hear a lecture by Robert Rowland Smith about the Meaning of Life. As much as this subject is most interesting and the lecture laudable, it is also barely audible. Rowland Smith walks up and down the stage, causing varying levels in the sound and constantly interacts with his audience, while there are no microphones to catch what feedback he is reacting to. (feed)

Still, what will make it worthwhile to spend an hour and a half struggling with this irregular lecture is that Rowland Smith gives an amazing overview of what is implied in questions about the meaning of life. It is the broadest inventory of relevant issues to the meaning of life I recall to have heard. In stead of being bothered by the lapses in the audio, you can take them as breaks and ponder your own reaction to it, until the next tidbit comes up.

Nice, inspiring I hope, but scattered.

More LSE:
Palestinian perspectives - LSE and CNES,
The impending war,
Quest for meaning,
The plundered planet,
China and India.

What is hot on 25 January 2011

Mahabharata Podcast
The Golden Plough
Episode 41 - This one covers Duryodhana reaction to the humiliation of being captured by the Gandharvas and then released by the valor of his hated cousins the Pandavas.
(review, feed)

Analysis
On Trust
In the first program of a new series, Edward Stourton interviews the eminent political philosopher, Onora O'Neill, on trust and mistrust, the subject of her 2002 BBC Reith Lectures.
(review, feed)

Entitled Opinions
Commedia dell'Arte
A conversation with actor, teacher and director Mace Perlman, about masks, mime, and the Italian Commedia dell'Arte.
(review, feed)

Ger Harmsen - Marathon Interview

Gisteren heb ik in een ruk drie uur podcast beluisterd: Ronald van den Boogaards interview met Ger Harmsen in 1997 in de serie Marathon Interviews (feed)

Als je de aankondigingen leest of beluistert word je in drie opzichten op het verkeerde been gezet, of althans, dat gebeurde mij. Ger Harmsen wordt aangekondigd als communist, historicus en filosoof. Hoewel er wordt gesproken over Marx, over sociale geschiedenis en Hegel, het gesprek met Harmsen voelt niet als een ontmoeting met een communist, historicus en filosoof of als een gesprek over communisme, geschiedenis en wijsbegeerte, het is vooral een persoonlijk document.

We leren Harmsen kennen als de timmermanszoon, het buitenbeentje, het mannetje dat zich ondanks een BVD rapport op weet te werken. We lichten een tipje van de sluier op over drie mislukte huwlijken en verder vastgelopen relaties, maar dat lijkt toch vooral bijzaak voor een man bij wie het om het werk gaat. En als hij er al iets naast doet dan is het botaniseren. Harmsen is in het interview ook vooral over zichzelf aan het woord en het is dankzij een voortreffelijk interviewer als Ronald van den Boogaard dat het interessant is om hierin mee te gaan. Van den Boogaard, zoals gewoonlijk, heeft zich goed ingelezen en weet door te vragen op punten waar ook echt iets onder de gepresenteerde lagen verder te ontdekken valt. Daar mogen andere interviewers in de serie een voorbeeld aan nemen.

Meer Het Marathon Interview:
Het Marathon Interview met Kerst 2010,
Michiel van Erp,
Ger van Elk,
Ileana Melita,
VPRO's Marathon Interview.